No truer words have been spoken about the ill-fated Allegheny Center for the Arts building project than those spoken by Warren City Councilman Dr. Howard Ferguson on Thursday.
"We can't maintain the status quo," Ferguson told the city's Redevelopment Authority. Alluding to the building's appearance, he noted, "It's not in the best interest of Warren to leave the ACA building in the condition it's in."
After months of silence followed by rampant innuendo and finger-pointing, there is at least an effort to find some solution to the mess that is the ACA Building Project.
At least City Council, the contractor and representatives of Warren Main Street are sitting down to ferret out solutions. Although we're curious why there is not representation of the current or former GROWarren board at the table -though it could have something to do with the mystery surrounding whether or not it still exists as an entity - we're pleased that there is at least some effort to move the situation in a positive direction.
Whether or not there will ever be some civic use for the building is a question that might not be answered in this generation, but we hope the committee will be able to come up with a plan that ameliorates the economic damage inflicted on the contractor, returns some of the money the city obtained for the project, and at least tidies up the facade so that we're not reminded daily of the depths of the project's failure.